Described as ​“one-of-a-kind” by Toronto’s The Globe and Mail, Pekka Kuusisto is renowned for his fresh approach to repertoire. Widely recognised for his flair in directing ensembles from the violin, Kuusisto is Artistic Partner with The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra and Artistic Director of ACO Collective — a string ensemble of Australia’s most talented young professional musicians delivering innovative projects across the country. In 2017 he became Artistic Best Friend of Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and in 2018 became an Artistic Partner of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Other directing engagements include the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Scottish and Swedish chamber orchestras.

Highlights of the 2019/20 season include concerto appearances with the NDR Elbphilharmonie, Chicago, NHK, Gothenburg, MDR, Swedish Radio and Finnish Radio symphony orchestras, and the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich where he is an artist ​“In Focus”. Kuusisto returns as violinist-director-conductor to the Tapiola Sinfonietta, and the Norwegian, Swedish and Scottish chamber orchestras. He is also the main guest artist for Amsterdam’s annual Prinsengrachtconcert, where he joins the Camerata RCO for the largest classical open-air concert in the Netherlands.

“As a soloist in the concerto, Kuusisto sounded as winning, warm and mercurial as we expect from this free-spirited innovator.”

(The Arts Desk, August 2019)

“This is where greatness reared its head, for I have seldom if ever heard a performance as steeped in pure Sibelian sound as that by Pekka Kuusisto.”

(Bachtrack, August 2019)

“Pekka Kuusisto [gave] a performance of the [Sibelius] Violin Concerto that was as silvery and fleeting as winter sunlight on water. His ethereal sound came into its own in a perfectly judged encore, Sibelius’ Humoresque No.4.”

(The Times, August 2019)

“Pekka Kuusisto was outstanding in the New York premiere of Daniel Bjarnason’s Violin Concerto (2017). The piece and performance were both incredible works of art unlike anything I have witnessed… In the cadenza, Kuusisto demonstrated his control and understanding of the violin and pushed the instrument to its limits while maintaining an incredible level of musicality, phrasing, and beauty… He is truly a performer extraordinaire.”

(The Strad, September 2018)

“Kuusisto, an artist of astonishing gifts, booted up his iPad and tackled the daunting score animatedly… His playing was by turns expressive and fiercely vibrant in this journey of many moods.”

(Cincinnati.com, January 2017)

“What could have been just a clever programming idea instead provided the foundation for one of the most enjoyable SPCO concerts of the season… from the sensation that the SPCO might have found its ideal artistic partner in the imaginative and extraordinarily gifted Kuusisto.”

(TwinCities, January 2017)

“If the Haydn was exuberant, the symphony that concluded the evening, Prokofiev’s ​“Classical” — deliberately modeled on Haydn — was positively incendiary in its impact. Kuusisto was again the catalyst, driving the outer movements at a blistering tempo that required a crack response from the SPCO players, and got it.”

(Star Tribune, January 2017)

“The Festival’s string highlight, however, was Finn Pekka Kuusisto’s bracingly fresh account of Sibelius’s Violin Concerto in a triumphant concert with the Minnesota Orchesstra under Osmo Vanska (23 August)…he transformed it into a thoroughly modern, forward-looking work, fleet and glacial in its opening and disarmingly direct in its strongly defined finale, with a distinctive folk twang too.”

(The Strad, November 2016)

“Kuusisto and Altstaedt absorbed each other’s roles, blending and rising to forge the dominant idea so seamlessly that one could have been listening to a single interpreter. Their performance was always unassuming and intelligent in delineating the phrasing and textures. This whole concert was a treat.”

(The Strad, October 2016)

“[Kuusisto] executed the virtuoso work with flair and a charming chuckle, suggesting both a zest for life and musical supremacy.”

(Kolnische Rundschau, Olaf Weiden, September 2016)

“The oft-played work is match made in heaven for the captivating Kuusisto, who is as brilliant as charismatic. With chameleon-like changeability he shows everything off here: total melodiousness in the ​“Aria”, enchantment in the ​“Lento intenso”, then dance-like tricks and soulful, lyrical solo melodies.”

(Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger, Rainer Nonnenmann, September 2016)

“What followed, however, upstaged all else. It was the Proms debut of Pekka Kuusisto, the maverick Finnish violinist, improbably playing the Tchaikovsky Concerto. His played-and-sung encore … brought the house down.”

(The Times, August 2016)

“Who needs a ​‘Last Night’ when you have Pekka Kuusisto? The Finnish violinist’s performance of Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto will surely prove to be one of the most joyous events at this year’s Proms. … Kuusisto gave us sheer joy: ​‘light-hearted’ and ​‘cheeky’ were not words I’d ever thought I would use to describe this work, but they are apt in this case, supplemented by ​‘honest’, ​‘open-hearted’ and ​‘songful’. … Sparing with vibrato, the violinist revealed an innate sense of phrasing, letting the melodies unfold with the gentle ease of a folk singer, taking Tchaikovsky’s themes back to their roots.”

(Seen & Heard International, August 2016)

“This Finnish violinist has always gone his own way, as likely to be found playing jazz, electronica or folk music as a concerto, and his Tchaikovsky last night was no different. … From the long opening melody to the Finale’s boot-stamping dance of a theme, Kuusisto was as much a fiddler as a violinist. Arms flowing loose, feet syncopating to the rhythms of his bow, mouth constantly on the edge of a grin, he took Tchaikovsky’s art music and distilled it down to its folk essence. Tempos, freed from the weight of Romantic emotion and vibrato, suddenly danced, and melodies relocated from ballroom to barn shook off maturity for lightfooted youth.”

“Kuusisto is a one-of-a-kind violin player – supple, lyrical, virtuosic and intensely personal all at the same time. He played the Nielsen as though it had been written for him – actually he played it as though he had written it himself, so thoroughly did he inhabit this odd, compelling music… Kuusisto made every twist and turn of the score make sense, and conductor Mena was with him every step of the way. The performance was balanced, expressive and thrilling, just as you hope music can be.”

(Robert Harris, The Globe and Mail, June 2016)

“[Kuusisto]…then displayed his imagination by leading the SPCO strings in an absorbing mix of music by contemporary composers Nico Muhly, Erkki-Sven Tuur and Bryce Dessner […]Taken as a whole, it was an ideal blend of intellect and heart, tremendous technique and ebullient abandon.”

(Pioneer Press, April 2016)

“Kuusisto has a stage presence that is simultaneously elegant and mischievous. With his balletic conducting gestures and expressive eyes, he led the ensemble into the exciting territory of modern works, classic masterpieces and a reimagined Beethoven quartet.”

(Canberra Times, February 2016)

“Finnish violinist Pekka Kuusisto gave us a rugged and intensely intimate blow-by-blow account with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and conductor Tuomas Hannikainen. Nielsen was a folk fiddler and Kuusisto made it show in the gorgeous looseness of his rhythms and stripped-back grit of his sound. There’s not an inch of formality to his playing: he might as well have wandered the hall and whispered, crooned and stomped directly into our ears. His encore was a pair of traditional polskas, full of spry ornamentation and raucous swing. What a thrill.”

(Kate Molleson, The Guardian, October 2015)

“Kuusisto’s personality shone through from the opening Bach-inspired flourishes, through to the macabre, dance-infused finale. His rich full-bodied sound was mirrored by the orchestra with some lyrical contributions from the brass and playful exchanges with the woodwind section.”

***** (Susan Nickalls, The Scotsman, October 2015)

“The performances are strong, confident and poetic, and violinist Pekka Kuusisto tackles the challenges of Darkness in Light as though they were by Prokofiev or even Tchaikovsky.”

(Stephen Johnson, BBC Music Magazine, July 2015)

“The Violin Concerto Darkness in Light (2012) was composed for and dedicated to Pekka Kuusisto, who gives a dazzlingly virtuoso account of it here…Kuusisto navigates his way brilliantly through the gamut of effects including multiple-stopping, microtones, harmonics et al, all expressed with a broadly legato flow…”

(Guy Rickards, Gramophone, May 2015)

“Magnus Lindberg’s violin concerto…[was] a true technical and sonic showcase. Frankly spectacular. Kuusisto…demonstrated his full virtuoso abilities and stood up to the challenge like very few fellow violinists could possibly have done.”

(Jorge Aráoz Badí, La Nación, April 2015)

“Fagerlund’s music is highly energetic and detailed. The recording in addition is penetrating, dynamic and rings, just like the composition, with Pekka Kuusisto’s virtuosic playing; the concerto being commissioned for him.”

(Wilhelm Kvist, HBL, April 2015)

“…There are passages of subtle virtuosity from Pekka Kuusisto as well as a lovely static passage where the violin hovers over a constantly shifting quiet orchestra…This is a very fine concerto indeed full of invention, colour and energy. It receives a terrific performance from Pekka Kuusisto with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hannu Lintu.”

(Bruce Reader, The Classical Reviewer, April 2015)

“[The Sibelius Violin Concerto] is often played – but never quite like this, and the performance by violinist Pekka Kuusisto was the evening’s great surprise…he launched into the music with a straightforward intensity that had the listeners leaning forward in their seats. There were no showy virtuoso flourishes and no grand gestures; instead, Kuusisto wielded an awe-inspiring technique and displayed a brilliantly thorough command of this challenging score. After the final bravura notes, the audience just exploded, into an ovation that sounded less like sedate symphony-goers and more like the 12th Man. Kuusisto was called again and again to the stage, until he provided a wonderfully Finnish encore by the 19th-century folk musician Samuel Rinda-Nickola, complete with foot-stomping emphasis.”

(Melinda Bargreen, The Seattle Times, March 2015)

“…Kuusisto stood out. He committed at every moment to Sibelius’ music, whether spinning a thread of tone in his opening bars or turning to the orchestra with a smile between solos, absorbing energy for his next entrance…Kuusisto consistently draws you in with his playing, as if he’s trying to share a secret…Everyone left for intermission with the same huge smile Kuusisto wore at the end, and a guy walking past me up the aisle told his date, ​‘I have a new favorite fiddler.’”

(Lawrence Toppman, The Charlotte Observer, March 2015)

“Kuusisto is clearly a risk taker and in this case, he was eminently successful. This collaboration represented an inventive reimagining of the classical sound and offered the opportunity to hear this music afresh. The freewheeling program offered a novel way to structure a recital, thinking outside the usual box…Kuusisto himself provided much of the energy of the event…He was clearly having a rollicking good time and his mood was contagious…he is a true virtuoso, playing with expressive flair and control…Kuusisto demonstrated mastery as a classical violinist and as a fiddler, a different skill set…the ear-catching thrills kept the audience enthralled.”

(William Randall Beard, Star Tribune, March 2015)

“If you’ve encountered an uncomfortably aristocratic air at some classical music concerts you’ve attended, be assured that violinist Pekka Kuusisto seems intent upon doing away with that. The flamboyant Finn engages audiences with a puckish playfulness, approaching the music with a palpable thirst for fun and adventure…Employing an expressive face and a loose-limbed bounciness, he clearly captured the audience’s fancy, judging from its lusty ovations. And he underlined the Bach sonatas’ foundation in dance by interspersing Finnish folk tunes from Bach’s era, climaxing in a ​“polska for the devil” that was thrillingly fiery.”

(Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press, March 2015)

“…a brilliant adventure, full of surprises and imagination…[This was] without a doubt the most incredible improvisation I have ever heard.”

Mobile navigation

Join Our Mailing List

Name

Email

Please send me emails about HarrisonParrott artists and events

Please send me emails about Polyarts artists and events

You are giving us, HarrisonParrott, your name and email address because you wish to receive news about our artists and events, and we will only process your personal information for that purpose. Please see our Website Privacy Policy for further information about how we process your personal information.

We hope you enjoy receiving news from us, but if you would like to opt out of receiving emails from HarrisonParrott or PolyArts at any time, you can do so by sending an email to marketing@harrisonparrott.co.uk or by clicking the UNSUBSCRIBE link at the bottom of any email that you receive from us.